Brazil: Fernando De Noronha

[Canela SF]

Greetings, everyone!

I am looking for help/advice/info about the island of Fernando De Noronha. I'm going to be traveling to Brazil and am planning to take a detour to the island for a few days of diving.

Would love to hear about experiences there as well as dive shop reviews and hotel/pousada rec's.

A little about me? I'll be traveling solo and don't speak portuguese. Yikes. However, I do speak Spanish and have traveled pretty extensively around Latin America.

All advice/thoughts are welcome.

Thanks!

[DocVikingo]

(nt)

[Conce]

Hi Canela!

Iīm a brazilian girl who lives in Portugal for a long time. But I know some friends who dived in Fernando de Noronha and just loved there. Itīs a ecological island and so you pay a local tax per day for stay there, thereīs only one hotel with a swimming pool and the rest are small "residences" with 4 to 6 bedrooms.
People go to this island to rest, to be with nature and to dive.

Thereīs a dive operator "Aguas Claras" who you can dive 5 times a day, they are organized and the site in internet is www.aguasclaras-fn.com.br/mergulhe.htm
Another site who can give you information about the hotel and the residences is www.ecoviagem.com.br/ecoturismo/

But the 2 sites I indicated to you are in portuguese. You must have someone to translate to you.

Hope I helped you

[drbill]

Canela-

A friend of mine is an I/W videographer from Brazil. He used to own his own dive shop but now shoots for Ocean Futures. He says that the two top dive spots in Brazil are Fernando de Noronha and Abrolhas.

I'd love to dive either of them. Need someone to carry your gear or take pix for your article (which I assume you are writing)? Seriously, I hope you will post a follow-up afer your visit for those of us who are still longing to go.

Dr. Bill

[turboracer]

This is definetely once of the best locations that I have been to. The water is just crystal clear and the marine life is abundant.
There are a few dive operators in there. You can check www.nosboost.com for information in the travel section. The author lists a few dive operators and key diving spots.
Another place they recommend is apparently Angra dos Reis.
I havent had the chance to go yet but am sure it is a great place to dive.:out:

[getwet]

Hi Canela,

I've been in Noronha a couple of years ago and let me tell you... IT'S TERRIFIC!!!!

There are a couple of operators, but the best one is Atlantis. Their website is www.atlantisnoronha.com.br
It's in protuguese, but if you understand Spanish you should have no problem (anyway, if you need some help, let me know, okay?)

If you want to read some more, check out Noronha's site. Is
www.noronha.com.br
You have an English option there.
You have a list of "pousadas" with their tel #. But if you get in touch with Atlantis, they'd probably help you with this also.

Now, some tips for you. There's only one hotel there "Esmeralda". The rest are all posadas. The island is really PARADISE (trust me), but if you are expecting to get to some kind of "civilization", you won't find it there. The hotel is the more "city like", and only few of the posadas have hot water. For the rest, only cold water. They never close the windows or the doors, so you better be ready to eat some ants while you sleep...:D
And you also eat fish, right? Otherwise you'll spend the week eating rice! (ok, this is a little exagerated... but don't expect to find many options rather than fish).

Sounds bad? Well let me tell you something... I'LL GO BACK THERE AS MANY TIMES AS I CAN!!! Diving is SUPERB, the island is something out of this world amazing, you won't mind the cold water at all, and I've been very happy eating rice the whole week! (yuk, hate to eat fish!)
If you don't care about the things I've told you about, just pack and go!! Trust me, you won't regret it!!

People there are extremely friendly so you won't have any trouble.

Hope the links help you. But anything else you need or would like to know, I'll be glad to help you (I really can spend HOURS talking about Noronha)